No Two Persons

March 13, 2023
Bauermeister’s moving linked collection (after The Scent Keeper) revolves around a novel by a reclusive author. After Alice Wein’s older brother, Peter, a once-promising swimmer, dies from an overdose, she writes a novel titled Theo with an eponymous main character inspired by her brother. Over the next 10 years, Theo is plucked from an agent’s slush pile by a new mother and is later recorded as an audiobook by an actor whose career was hindered by a disease that causes skin discoloration. The stories, all of which feature a life derailed by circumstance, become more engaging as they focus on Theo’s readers. The overarching narrative takes a while to get going—early stories such as “The Writer” are vague—but the author hits her stride with “The Teenager,” in which a secretly homeless scholarship kid finds a lifeline through sympathetic adults. Another standout is “The Caretaker,” in which a widower gets to experience his beloved wife’s presence one more time through her marginalia. “The Agent,” a satisfying closer, checks in on Alice’s agent at the end of her own long career. There’s plenty of charm to this thoughtful take on a book’s impact on its readers.

September 1, 2023

Bauermeister's (The Scent Keeper) book-about-a-book explores the impact of one novel on its readers. The initial chapter, "The Writer," presents the backstory and inspiration for what becomes the book Theo. In "The Assistant," a manuscript reader flags Theo for a literary agent, thus launching the novel's voyage through many lives. "The Diver" introduces a free-diver testing the sport's extremes, with detrimental effects. "The Teenager" follows a student secretly living in a school shed until she is discovered. "The Artist" introduces a free-thinking designer of sea-glass jewelry who resists pressure to be more grounded. An ensemble cast brightens this audiobook, with notable performances by Braden Wright as "the Actor," a former screen actor rediscovering himself as Theo's audiobook narrator; George Newbern as "the Caretaker," a widower finding solace in his wife's notations throughout Theo; and Carol Jacobanis as "the Agent" who brought Theo to publication and is now nearing retirement. Bauermeister points to the deeply personal nature of reading, as each character reacts to and learns from Theo differently. VERDICT Though this work is billed as a novel, listeners may find that it rings truest when approached as a collection of interconnected short stories. For fans of contemplative, bookish books.--Kym Goering

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.